^C3^€^3mM 


' 


AN  ADDKESS 

TO  THE 


CITIZENS  OF  ALABAMA. 


ON  THE 


CONSTITUTION  AND  LAWS      fl) 

I? 
f 

I) 

OF  THE  to  ( 


CONFEDERATE  STATES  OF  AMERICA,  % 


BY  THE 


HON.  ROBERT  H.  SMITH, 


At  Temparan.ee  Hall,  on  the-  30th  of  March,   L861. 

I 


[PUBLISHED  BY   REQUEST  OF  THE  CITIZENS  OF  MOBILE.] 


MOBILE: 

MOBILE  DAILY  REGISTER  TRINT. 


1861. 


^<y63<yC3<r69<y€  3^ 


George  Washington  Flowers 
Memorial  Collection 

DUKE  UNIVERSITY  LIBRARY 


ESTABLISHED   BY  THE 
FAMILY  OF 

COLONEL  FLOWERS 


AN  ADDRESS 


TO  THE 


CITIZENS  OF  ALABAMA, 


ON  THE 


CONSTITUTION  AND  LAWS 


OF  THE 


CONFEDERATE  STATES  OF  AMERICA, 


BY  THE 


HON.  ROBERT  H.  SMITH, 


At  Temperance  Hall,  on  the  30th  of  March,  1861. 


[published  by  request  of  the  citizens  of  mobile.] 


MOBILE: 

HOBILB  DAILY  REGISTER  TRTNT. 

186L 


«   <  >!;!.  I  ISPONI>EN<    E. 


MOBILE,  It  April   1861 
Hon.  RonKRT  H.  Smith,  Mobile: 

Sir— We  hoard  with  much  pleasure  the  able  Addraai  you  delirexed  at  the  Temperance  Hall 

on  the  night  of  the  30th  ultimo,  on  the  Constitution  and  Laws  of  tHn  Confedi 

America.  We  are  satisfied  that  such  an  exposition  r.f  the  reasons  and  motives,  which  in- 
duced the  Congress  of  the  Confederate  States  to  make  the  changes  they  have  done,  in  our 
Federal  Constitution  and  Laws,  coming  from  a  prominent  member  of  ;hat  body,  must  be  in- 
teresting and  acceptable  to  the  public.  We  therefore  respectfully  request  a  copy  oi  yotM 
Address  for  publication. 

Very  respectfully,  yours,  &c. 

C.  J.  MaRAE, 

A.  F.   HOPKINS, 

JAMES  S.  DEAS, 

S.  J.  MURPHY, 

WM.  W.  ALLEN, 

L.  M.  WHBON, 

J.  J.  WALKER, 

FRED'K  B.  SHEPARD, 

T.  J.  BUTLER, 

HENRY  MYERS, 

JOS.  K.  MURRELL, 

S.  G.  BATTLE. 

T.  L.  TOULMiV, 

HUGH  McCAW, 


WM.  D.  DUNN, 

WM.  S.  .It  INKS. 

NKWTON  ST.  JOHN, 

ROBERT  W.  SMITH, 

CHAS.  W  A  LSI  I, 

PBICE  WILLIAMS 

JOHN  H.  GARNER, 

A.  ROYSTER, 

H.  A.  HURXTHAL, 

R,  T.  DADE, 

J.  A.  M.  BATTLE, 

B.  F.  MARSHALL, 

ROBERT  S.  BUNKER, 

ROBERT  B.  ARM1STEAD. 


MOBILE,  April  1st,  1861. 
Gtntlemen — In  reply  to  yonr  kind  note  of  to  day,  asking  for  publication  a  copy  of  my  Ad- 
dress on  the  Constitution  and  Laws  of  the  Confederate  States  of  America,  1  herewith  Bend 
you  the  paper  desired. 

Very  respectfully,  yours,  &c, 

ROBT.  H.  SMITH. 
To  Mes»ra.  C.  J.  McRak,  A.  F.  Hopkins,  Jajbss  S.  DlAB,  and  others. 


IliU    I  uwnwi 


ADDRESS 

ON  THE 


Eon&fifution  an!)  Laws  of  tin:  Confebcraic  States* 


Fellow- Citizens  of  the  Confederate  States  of  America: 

The  Congress  of  which  I  am  a  member,  and  whose  labors  have 
been  eventful  in  our  history,  has,  after  a  session  of  sis  weeks, 
taken  a  recess  until  the  second  Monday  in  May  next :  and  in  view 
of  the  momentous  questions  with  which  it  has  had  to  deal  and  of 
the  consequences  which  hang  upon  its  work,  it  seems  to  me  pro- 
per on  returning  home  to  address  the  citizens  of  our  Commercial 
Metropolis,  and  the  people  of  Alabama  generally  who  may  be 
here,  upon  the  present  condition  and  future  prospects  of  our 
political  affairs.  I  have,  therefore,  invited  your  attendance  this 
evening  to  lay  before  you,  so  far  as  an  observance  of  the  secrecy 
of  our  proceedings  will  admit,  the  course  and  action  of  the  Con- 
gress of  the  Confederate  States  of  America  and  to  express  my 
views  of  the  destiny  of  our  New  Republic.  I  shall  seek  to  dis- 
charge the  task  plainly  and  simply ;  for  my  object  is  not  to 
entertain  you  with  a  speech,  but  to  converse  with  you  as  a 
neighbor. 

Our  ordinance  of  secession  invited  the  People  of  the  Southern 
States  to  meet  the  People  of  the  State  of  Alabama  at  Mont- 
gomery on  the  4th  day  of  February,  "  for  the  purpose  of  consult- 
ing with  each  other  as  to  the  most  effectual  mode  of  securing 
concerted  and  harmonious  action  in  whatever  measures  may  be 
deemed  most  desirable  for  our  common  peace  and  security." 
And  the  resolution,  under  which  we  were  elected,  authorized  us 
to  meet  such  deputies  as  might  be  appointed  from  the  other  slave- 
holding  States,  which  should  secede  from  the  Federal  Union,  for 
the  purpose  of  "framing  a  Provisional  Government  upon  the  prin- 
ciples of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  and  also  to  prepare 
and  consider  upon  a  plan  for  the  creation  and  establishment  of  a 


Permanent  Government  for  the  seceding  States  upon  the  same 
principles,  which  shall  he  suhmitted  to  Conventions  of  such  seced- 
ing States  for  adoption  or  rejection." 

We  met  and  consulted  and  framed  a  Provisional  Government, 
by  adopting  the  Constitution  and  enacting  the  laws  to  which  you 
are  now  obedient,  and  we  have  suhmitted  a  plan  for  the  creation 
and  establishment  of  a  Permanent  Government  of  the  seceded 
States.  I  am  gratified  to  know  that  our  State  Convention  lias 
accepted  this  Constitution  by  an  almost  unanimous  vote  and  the 
act  meets,  so  far  as  I  have  ascertained,  the  approbation  of  our 
people, 

The  first  question,  which  necessarily  arrested  the  attention  of 
the  Convention  was  what  powers  should  it  exercise,  in  view  of  the 
authority  conferred  and  the  condition  and  wants  of  the  constitu- 
ency represented.  We  assembled  as  the  Deputies  of  six  separate 
States  for  the  purpose  of  securing  concerted  and  harmonious 
action  in  such  measures  as  might  be  deemed  most  desirable  for 
our  common  peace  and  security  ;  and  to  this  end  we  were  in- 
structed, as  I  have  said,  to  frame  a  Provisional  Government  upon 
the  principles  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States. 

Each  State  had  seceded  with  the  expectation  of  speedily  form- 
ing a  close  bond  of  union  with  her  sympathizing  sisters,  and  the 
great  object  of  the  Convention  was  to  bind  together  the  broken 
fragments  of  a  separated,  but  homogeneous  people,  and  tbus 
"  establish  justice,  insufe  domestic  tranquillity,  provide  for  the 
common  defence,  promote  the  general  welfare,  and  secure  the 
blessings  of  liberty  to  ourselves,  and  our  posterity." 

The  long  strife  with  the  non-slaveholding  States  had  ended  in 
a  disruption  of  our  relations  with  the  Government.  The  Consti- 
tution of  our  Fathers  had  been  long  and  persistently  abused  to 
our  injury,  until  a  hostile  party  was  coming  into  power,  whose 
rule  of  action  was  the  almost  single  idea  of  embittered  hate  to- 
wards our  people  and  our  institutions,  unmindful  of  the  Constitu- 
tional guaranties  which  were  intended  as  checks  against  popular 
majorities.  It's  elected  President  looked  to  his  advent  to  power 
with  the  narrow  vision  of  a  sectional  partisan  and  heard  in  the 
complaints  and  saw  in  the  resistance  of  a  free  people  nothing  but 
the  clamor  of  rebels,  who  were  to  be  punished.  It  is  impossible 
to  doubt  that  it  was  Mr.  Lincoln's  policy,  under  the  name  of 
enforcing  the  laws,  to  retake  the  forts,  to  collect  the  revenue  of 
the  United  States  in  our  Ports  and  to  reduce  the  seceded  States 


to  obedience  to  the  behests  of  his  party.  His  purpose  therefore 
was  war  upon,  and  subjugation  of  our  people.  I  need  not  tell 
you  that  this  state  of  things  demanded  prompt  and  united  resist- 
ance and  that  the  position  assumed  by  the  seceded  States  was  to 
be  maintained  at  any  and  every  hazard.  Each  State  had  for 
herself  put  on  the  armor  of  war,  but  the  cause  was  a  common  one, 
and  the  cardinal  object  of  assembling  a  Congress  was  to  meet  and 
provide  for  a  common  exigency  ;  and  the  required  Provisional 
Government  could  only  be  framed,  so  as  to  respond  to  the  high 
purposes  aimed  at,  by  the  exercise  of  legislative  powers.  In- 
deed the  letter  of  our  authority  would  not  have  been  fulfilled,  had 
we  simply  made  a  Provisional  Constitution  without  the  enactment 
of  laws ;  for  by  stopping  at  the  creation  of  the  fundamental  law, 
we  should  have  performed  but  one  important  part  in  framing  a 
Government. 

The  necessities  of  the  occasion  demanded  prompt  and  efficient 
military  organization  under  the  direction  of  one  power  ;  the  col- 
lection of  revenues  at  a  few  seaports  for  defraying  the  expenses 
of  the  common  cause ;  the  enactment  and  administration  of 
laws  emanating  from  an  acknowledged  head  empowered  to  speak, 
within  the  sphere  of  its  authority,  in  the  name  of  the  whole ; 
the  creation  of  a  Government  which  would  command  obedience 
at  home  and  acknowledgment  and  respect  abroad,  and  which, 
by  the  promptitude,  efficiency  and  wisdom  of  its  action,  might 
avert  the  calamities  of  war,  or,  failing  in  this  high  hope,  success- 
fully maintain,  through  the  last  appeal  of  nations,  the  rights  of 
these  States. 

For  myself,  I  never  doubted  but  the  warrant  of  our  authority, 
the  expectations  of  the  public  and  the  necessities  of  the  occasion, 
demanded  that  the  Convention  should  adopt  and  put  in  motion 
the  Government  of  the  Confederate  States,  by  enacting  as  a 
Congress  such  laws  as  the  exigency  required.  In  my  opinion, 
we  are  this  day  indebted  to  such  a  course  for  the  pacific  policy 
now  beginning  to  prevail  at  Washington  ;  for  a  change  from 
threatening  war  to  promised  peace  ;  for  that  revival  of  confi- 
dence which  business  to-day  exhibits  in  your  streets,  and  for  that 
cementing  together  of  public  opinion  so  happily  illustrated  in  the 
councils  of  our  State  in  the  adoption  of  a  permanent  Constitu- 
tion ;  and  what  is  more  and  least  disputable,  to  it  we  are  indebt- 
ed for  the  power  of  this  Confederacy  to  maintain  by  arms  the 
position  we  have  taken. 


Fellow-citizens,  you  have  but  to  trace  with  your  memories  a  lit- 
tle more  than  one  abort  month,  to  know  what  prospects,  what 
hopes,  what  realities  have  been  created.  Division,  doubt  and  uncer- 
tainty have  been  succeeded  by  unanimity,  confidence  and  stability. 
Revolution  has  been  accomplished  without  anarchy  ;  and,  whether 
our  independence  is  to  be  received  and  treated  as  a  tact  by  other 
nations  or  is  yet  to  he  baptized  in  blond,  we  feel  assured  that  our 
nationality  is  a  successful  and  an  irrevocable  deed.  You  have 
but  to  read  the  speeches  ot'  Mr.  Lincoln  on  his  journey  to  Wash- 
ington, in  contrast  with  the  present  tone  of  the  Administration, 
to  realize  the  effect  of  our  conduct  upon  our  enemies.  You  have. 
but  to  compare  the  speeches  of  the  President  of  these  Confede- 
rate States  with  those  of  the  President  of  the  United  States  to 
feel  proud  of  the  contrast  between  the  statesman  ami  the.  narrow- 
minded  and  ignorant  partisan.  For  the  truth  of  which  latter 
assertion,  if  proof  be  wanted,  I  would  refer  you  to  the  editorials 
of  the  National  Intelligencer,  supposed  to  represent  the  views  of 
the  Premier  of  the  United  States,  refusing  even  to  credit  the 
accuracy  of  the  reports  of  speeches  made  by  Mr.  Lincoln  on  his 
journey  to  Washington. 

We  met  on  the  fourth  of  February  to  create  a  Government,  and 
to  give  to  it  such  solidity  and  strength  as  would  challenge  the 
confidence  of  our  public  and  the  respect  of  the  world.  To  be 
effectually  done  it  had  to  spring  into  strength  in  one  short  month 
and  to  spread,  as  if  by  a  magic  touch,  confidence  to  the  pursuits 
of  our  people.  But  I  need  not  pursue  this  part  of  my  subject. 
The  act  and  its  results  are  before  you,  and  for  one  I  stand  ready 
to  answer  at  the  bar  of  present  opinion  and  to  abide  by  the 
judgment  of  posterity  as  to  the  patriotism  and  wisdom  which 
caused  the  Convention  of  the  Confederate  States  to  resolve  itself 
into  a  Legislative  Congress. 

We  deliberated  and  acted  with  closed  doors,  but  the  results  of 
our  labors  are  before  the  world  ;  for  our  laws  were  promulgated 
as  they  were  approved  by  the  President.  If  they  are  wise  it 
matters  not  what  discussion  caused  their  adoption  ;  if  unwise 
nothing  can  or  should  redeem  them  from  censure.  I  do  not  deny 
nor  even  doubt  the  importance  of  open  discussion  in  a  free  Gov- 
ernment, but  there  are  occasions  when  every  Power  must  delibe- 
rate with  closed  doors,  and,  in  our  case,  all  circumstances  com- 
bined to  render  this  not  only  proper  but  necessary.  We  had 
much  to  do  in  a  short  time  and  the  matter  was  of  the  gravest 


importance;  for  we  had  a  nation  to  form,  and  peace  and  waf 
hung  trembling  in  the  balance.  The  Convention  that  in  time  of 
peace  passed  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  had  given  us  its 
high  example  of  the  necessity  of  secret  sessions.  Calm,  unbiassed 
deliberations,  unrestrained  even  by  the  pre-expressed  opinions 
of  the  members  themselves  5  as  well  as  freedom  from  all  motive  or 
hope  of  individual  eclat  were  promoted  by  closed  doors ;  but 
apart  from  these  considerations,  it  was  of  the  highest  importance 
that  our  actions  should  not  be  anticipated  and  misrepresented 
through  the  appliances  of  news  mongers  and  sensation  telegrams. 
The  matters  of  legislation  with  which  we  had  to  deal  were  of  a 
high  and  often  confidential  character  and  required  celerity  of 
action.  Such  are  always,  more  or  less,  the  nature  of  Govern- 
mental affairs  appertaining  to  Foreign  relations.  Much  too  bad 
to  be  done  in  a  short  time  and  every  one  is  aware  of  the  facility 
imparted  to  deliberation  and  action  by  retired,  quiet  and  calm 
labor.  To  the  fact  that  Congress  sat  on  all  important  business 
in  secret  session  is  mainly  attributable  the  unusual  amount  of 
work  performed  ;  and  it  affords  me  pleasure  to  know,  that  seldom 
have  men  labored  for  the  public  weal  more  assiduously,  or  brought 
to  the  discharge  of  their  duties  a  higher  sense  of  obligation  than 
my  associates  in  the  Congress  of  the  Confederate  States. 

The  provisional  Constitution  has  been  before  the  country  since 
the  8th  day  of  February  last,  and  its  adaptation  to  the  expecta- 
tion and  wants  of  the  people  seems  to  be  generally  conceded. 
It  secures  every  cardinal  principle  of  American  liberty  :  indeed, 
adds  additional  safeguards  to  its  preservation.  Save  that  the  le- 
gislation of  Congress  is  made  during  the  brief  existence  of  the 
provisional  Government  to  devolve  upon  a  single  body,  and  that 
the  President  and  Vice  President  were  chosen  by  Congress 
(changes  which  the  urgent  necessity  of  the  occasion  demanded) 
we  have  followed  with  almost  literal  fidelity  the  Constitution  of 
the  United  States,  and  departed  from  its  text  only  so  far  as  ex- 
perience had  clearly  proven  that  additional  checks  were  required 
for  the  preservation  of  the  Nation's  interest.  Of  this  character 
is  the  power  given  the  President  to  arrest  corrupt  or  illegitimate 
expenditures,  by  vetoing  particular  clauses  in  an  appropriation 
bill,  and  at  the  same  time  approving  other  parts  of  the  bill. 
There  is  hardly  a  more  flagrant  abuse  of  it's  power,  by  the  Con- 
gress of  the  United  States  than  the  habitual  practice  of  loading 
bills,  which  are  necessary  for  Governmental  operations  with  rep- 


8 

rehcnsible,  not  to  say  venal  dispositions  of  the  public  money, 
and  which  only  obtain  favor  by  a  system  of  combinations  among 
members  interested  iu  similar  abuses  upon  the  treasury. 

Bills  necessary  for  the  support  of  the  Government  arc  loaded 
with  items  of  tho  most  exceptionable  character,  and  are  thrown 
upon  the  President  at  the  close  of  the  session,  for  his  sanction,  as 
the  only  alternative  for  keeping  the  Government  in  motion. 
Even  however  under  this  salutary  check,  the  evil  might  be  but 
mitigated,  not  cured,  in  the  case  of  a  weak  or  highly  partisan 
President,  who  would  feel  that  the  responsibility  of  such  legisla- 
tion rested  but  lightly  on  him,  so  long  as  the  unrestrained  power 
and  duty  of  originating  appropriations  depended  upon  a  corrupt 
or  pliant  Congress — hence  the  Convention  of  Confederate  States 
wisely  determined  that  the  Executive  was  the  proper  depart- 
ment to  know  and  call  for  the  moneys  necessary  for  the  support 
of  Government,  and  that  here  the  responsibility  should  rest. 
Therefore  the  Provisional  Constitution  prohibits  Congress  from  ap- 
propriating money  "from  the  treasury  unless  it  be  asked  for  by  tho 
President  or  some  one  of  the  heads  of  the  Departments,  except 
for  the  purpose  of  paying  its  own  expenses  and  contingencies." 
This  provision  proceeds  upon  the  idea  that  the  chief  Executive 
head  of  the  country  and  his  Cabinet  should  understand  the  pecu- 
niary wants  of  the  Confederacy,  and  should  be  answerable  for  an 
economical  administration  of  public  affairs,  and  at  the  same  time 
should  be  enabled  and  required  to  call  for  whatever  sums  may  be 
wanted  to  accomplish  the  purposes  of  Government. 

These  provisions  reappear  in  the  permanent  Constitution  ;  the 
latter,  however,  in  the  following  modified  form : 

"  Congress  shall  appropriate  no  money  from  the  treasury  ex- 
cept by  a  vote  of  two-thirds  of  both  Houses,  taken  by  yeas  and 
nays,  unless  it  be  asked  and  estimated  for  by  some  one  of  the 
heads  of  Department,  and  submitted  to  Congress  by  the  Presi- 
dent ;  or  for  the  purpose  of  paying  its  own  expenses  and  contin- 
gencies ;  or  for  the  payment  of  claims  against  the  Confederate 
States,  the  justice  of  which  shall  have  been  judicially  declared  by 
a  tribunal  for  the  investigation  of  claims  against  the  Government, 
which  it  is  hereby  made  the  duty  of  Congress  to  establish." 

Correlative  to  these  is  the  provision  that  "  all  bills  appro- 
priating money  shall  specify  in  federal  currency  the  exact 
amount  of  each  appropriation  and  the  purposes  for  which  it  is 
made ;  and  Congress  shall  grant  no  extra  compensation  to  any 


9 

public  contractor,  officer,  agent  or  servant,  after  such  contract 
shall  have  been""rnade  or  service  rendered." 

The  most  casual  observer  of  the  workings  of  the  Government 
of  the  United  States  can  hardly  fail  to  perceive,  in  these  several 
clauses,  important  and  necessary  additional  assurances  of  purity 
in  the  administration  of  our  national  affairs. 

The  denial  of  extra  compensation  to  public  contractors,  agents 
or  servants,  and  the  limitation  upon  the  power  of  Congress  to  de- 
termine on  claims  against  Government,  and  the  establishment  of 
Courts  for  their  adjudication,  doubly  commend  themselves  ;  for, 
while  they  interpose  effective  barriers  to  heedless  or  corrupt 
legislation,  they  offer  to  the  honest  bidder  fair  competition,  and 
to  the  public  creditor  an  impartial  tribunal,  better  fitted  for  the 
investigation  and  adjudication  of  his  rights  than  a  mere  political 
body  can  be. 

The  want  of  facility  of  communication  between  the  Exec- 
utive and  Legislature,  has,  it  is  believed,  been  a  serious  im- 
pediment to  tho  easy  and  harmonious  working  of  Government. 
Experience  has  shown  that  our  Fathers,  by  refusing  the  Execu- 
tive tho  right  to  be  heard  through  his  constitutional  advisers  on 
the  floor  of  the  Legislature,  had  interposed  barriers  to  that  free 
intercourse  between  the  two  departments  which  was  essential 
to  the  wise  and  healthy  action  of  each.  Hence,  by  the  Provi- 
sional Constitution,  members  of  Congress  may  fill  Executive 
places,  while  by  the  Permanent  one,  the  old  prohibition  is  re- 
tained that  "  No  person,  holding  any  office  under  the  Confede- 
rate States,  shall  be  a  member  of  either  House  during  his  con- 
tinuance in  office,"  subject  however  to  the  qualification  that 
"  Congress  may,  by  law,  grant  to  the  principal  officer  in  each 
of  the  Executive  Departments  a  seat  upon  the  floor  of  either 
House,  with  the  privilege  of  discussing  any  measures  appertaining 
to  his  department."  It  will  be  at  once  perceived  that  the  pro- 
vision, respecting  the  appropriation  of  money  upon  estimates  from 
the  Executive,  and  that  giving  Congress  power  to  admit  the 
Ministry  to  seats  on  its  floor,  are  but  modified  derivations  from 
the  British  Constitution.  In  England,  the  rule  is  absolute  that 
no  money  can  be  appropriated  by  Parliament,  unless  asked  for 
by  the  Crown,  and  the  principal  ministerial  officers  must  be  mem- 
bers of  Parliament,  and  are  required,  upon  being  called  to  office, 
to  resign  their  seats  in  the  House  of  Commons,  and  to  return  to 
the  body  by  reelection.  The  Ministry  bring  their  Budget  before 
Parliament,  and  retire  from  office  when  their  measures  fail  to 


10 

receive  its   approbation.     The  King   declares   war   and  makes 

peace.  He  too  possesses  the  unqualified  power  of  making  treat- 
ies and  of  appointing  to  office ;  yet  the  control  of  Government 
resides  in  Parliament,  because  of  the  power  in  the  House  of 
Commons  to  withhold  supplies,  and  by  a  vote  of  censure  or  of 
rejection  of  ministerial  measures,  to  change  the  actual  Executive 
heads  of  the  Realm.  As  the  measures  passed  are  those  of  the 
Crown  ;  and  as  its  policy  must  always  be  attuned  to  the  wishes  of 
Parliament,  it  follows  that  the  Executive  department  will  never 
fail  to  ask  for  all  proper  appropriations,  and  it  has  necessarily 
resulted  that  the  veto  power  has  fallen  into  disuse  in  England ; 
for  the  Crown  would  employ  it,  if  at  all,  against  measures,  origi- 
nated or  proposed  or  assented  to  by  its  Ministers  before  and  as 
part  of  the  Legislature.  The  effective  veto  power  in  England 
really  resides  in  Parliament  and  is  absolute,  and  hence  we  truly 
say  that  the  Government  of  Great  Britain  is  a  Parliamentary 
one.  While  these  principles  may  be  said  to  be  the  modern  sheet- 
anchors  of  English  liberty,  and  to  commend  themselves  to  us  as 
wise  and  long-tried  safeguards  of  freedom,  deserving  the  high 
eulogiums  of  her  jurists,  orators,  statesmen  and  historians,  it  will 
readily  occur  to  the  student  of  American  institutions,  that  they 
could  not  be  safely  transferred,  in  their  full  proportions,  to  the 
soil  of  permanent  American  legislation  ;  for  with  us  Congress 
declares  war,  and  the  President  appoints  to  office  and  makes 
treaties,  only  by  and  with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  Sen- 
ate;  and  his  advisers  .  are  not,  like  those  of  the  Crown,  sub- 
ject to  removal  at  the  will  of  the  Legislature,  nor  are  they,  like 
the  British  Ministry,  the  responsible  administrators  of  Gov- 
ernment. So  harmoniously  adjusted  are  the  parts  of  the  En- 
glish Constitution,  that  each  seems  necessary  to  the  symmetry 
of  the  whole,  but  it  is  apparent  that  with  us  the  President  might 
refuse  to  ask  for  appropriations  to  execute  measures  passed  by 
Congress,  which  failed  to  meet  his  approbation,  and  that  to  give 
to  the  chief  officer  of  the  country,  who  was  not  amenable  to  Con- 
gress, and  whose  tenure  of  place  and  freedom  of  action  were  in 
no  wise  controlled  by  it,  the  right,  through  his  Cabinet,  fully  to 
participate  in  legislation,  and  the  power  not  only  of  absolute  veto 
in  advance,  but  that  of  preventing  even  full  discussion  of  the 
wants  of  Government  by  refusing  to  call  for  appropriations, 
would  be  creating  a  power  unknown  to  the  British  Constitution 
and  dangerous  to  public  liberty. 

By  refusing  to  a  mere  majority  of  Congress  unlimited  control 


11 

over  the  treasury,  and  by  requiring  the  yeas  and  nays  to  be 
taken  whenever  two-thirds  assume  to  vote  away  money  not  asked 
for  by  the  Executive;  by  placing  upon  the  administration  the 
duty  and  responsibility  of  calling  for  appropriations  ;  by  virtually 
excluding  Congress  from  passing  upon  claims  against  the  Govern- 
ment ;  by  prohibiting  extra  compensation  to  employees  ;  by  ena- 
bling the  Executive  to  be  heard  on  the  floor  of  Congress,  and  by 
giving  the  President  the  power  to  veto  objectionable  items  in 
appropriation  bills,  Ave  have,  I  trust,  greatly  purified  our  Govern- 
ment, and,  at  the  same  time,  placed  its  different  parts  in  nearer 
and  more  harmonious  relations. 

Proceeding  upon  the  idea  that  a  just  economy  in  the  adminis- 
tration of  government  is  due  to  those  who  are  taxed  to  support 
it,  and  that  the  authority  to  raise  more  money  than  the  public 
exigency  demands  invites  abuse,  and  taught  by  the  history  of  the 
legislation  of  the  United  States,  that  too  much  money  is  corrupt- 
ing to  public  morals,  the  Convention,  by  the  provisional  Consti- 
tution, restrained  Congress  from  laying  and  collecting  taxes,  du- 
ties, imposts  and  excises,  except  for  discharging  the  debts  and 
carrying  on  the  Government ;  and  lest,  in  after  times,  the  ingenu- 
ity of  construction  might  enlarge  the  provision  and  turn  loose 
again  the  pent  up  evil,  the  permanent  Constitution  emphatically 
forbids  the  Legislature  from  granting  bounties  from  the  treasury, 
or  promoting  or  fostering  any  branch  of  industry.  Holding  stea- 
dily in  view  the  principle  that  the  great  object  of  the  Federal 
Government  is  to  perform  national  functions  and  not  to  aggran- 
dize or  depress  sectional,  or  local,  or  individual  interests,  and  ad- 
hering to  and  enforcing  the  doctrine  that  a  people  should  be  left  to 
pursue  and  develope  their  individual  thrift  without  direct  aids  or 
drawbacks  from  Government,  and  that  internal  improvements  are 
best  judged  of,  and  more  wisely  and  economically  directed  by  the 
localities  desiring  them,  even  when  they  legitimately  come  within 
the  scope  of  Federal  action,  and  knowing  that,  as  the  regulation 
of  commerce  was  one  of  the  chief  objects  of  creating  the  Govern- 
ment, and  that  under  this  power  lurked  danger  of  sectional  legis- 
lation and  lavish  expenditure,  the  Constitution  denies  to  Con- 
gress the  right  to  make  appropriations  for  any  internal  improve- 
ment, even  though  intended  to  facilitate  commerce,  except  for 
the  purpose  of  furnishing  lights,  beacons,  buoys  and  other  aids  to 
navigation  upon  the  coasts,  and  the  improvement  of  harbors  and 
the  removing  of  obstructions  in  river  navigation ;  and  the  cost 
and  expenses  of  even  these  objects  must  be  paid  by  duties  levied 


12 

on  the  navigation  facilitated.  And  in  order  that  each  State  may 
the  better  attain  such  objects  for  itself,  the  exclusive  power  of 
Congress  over  commerce  is  subject  to  the  qualification,  that  any 
State  may  accomplish  the  work  within  her  borders  by  a  duty  on 
the  sea-going  tonnage,  participating  in  the  trade  of  the  harbor  or 
river  improved  ;  provided  that  such  impositions  shall  not  conflict 
with  treaties  of  the  Confederacy,  and  that  any  surplus  so  raised 
shall  be  paid  into  the  Federal  treasury.  Thus,  are  not  only 
fruitful  sources  of  discord  cut  off,  by  abolishing  the  hot-house 
system  of  imparting  artificial  heat  and  growth  to  chosen  localities, 
at  the  expense  of  others,  through  bounties,  navigation  and  tariff 
and  internal  improvement  laws,  but  great  facilities  are  offered  to 
each  and  every  State  to  secure,  on  its  own  judgment  and  at  its 
own  risk  of  unduly  burdening  its  trade,  the  improvement  of  its 
waters  at  the  expense  of  the  sea-going  vessels  using  them  ;  and 
whether  the  work  be  undertaken  by  the  State  or  Federal 
Government,  the  burden  falls  subtantially  on  the  immediate 
beneficiary. 

We  may  congratulate  ourselves  that  henceforth  the  Federal 
Government  will  know  no  favorite  State  or  section ;  that  pros- 
perity however  widely,  profusely  or  partially  scattered,  is  to  be 
the  legitimate  results  of  legitimate  causes,  and  that  agriculture, 
commerce  and  manufactures  will  no  longer  breed  jealousy  and 
discontent,  but  will,  hand  in  hand,  each  advance  the  prosperity 
and  harmony  of  the  whole. 

Were  we  here  to  pause  and  point  our  people  to  the  past, 
tracing  the  abuses  of  Government  and  all  the  ills  of  discord, 
which  partial  and  hostile  legislation  engendered  in  the  public 
mind,  until,  long  before  our  dissolution,  we  had  become  an  alien- 
ated and  almost  belligerent  people,  we  should  find  that  in  the 
construction  of  a  Government  for  the  Confederate  States,  the 
lessons  of  experience  have  not  been  overlooked,  and  that  what- 
ever of  contention  the  future  may  bring  forth,  from  the  necessary 
conflicts  of  opinion  and  interest,  new  checks  and  balances  havo 
been  added  to  the  old  Constitution,  and  hopes  of  long  continued, 
fraternal  feelings,  indulged  by  our  Fathers,  have  again  revived. 

We  come  here  to-night  to  indulge  in  no  Utopian  idea,  that  we 
have  attained  perfection  in  Government,  or  that  we  have,  by  the 
clearness  of  language,  left  no  room  for  evasion  or  perversion  or 
usurpation  of  power ;  but  we  may,  I  think,  congratulate  our- 
selves that  grave  errors  have  been  corrected,  and  additional  hopes 
given  for  the  preservation  of  American  liberty. 


1  o 

lo 

When  we  see  that  while  Government  is  restrained  as  to  the 
ohjects  to  which  money  is  to  be  applied,  and  that  the  appropria- 
tion of  it  is  put  under  material  checks ;  that  the  patronage  of  the 
Executive  is  almost  cut  off  by  the  tenure  of  good  behavior, 
attached  to  the  vast  number  of  offices  which  before  were  the  mere 
spoils  of  a  victorious  party,  and  by  the  ineligibility  of  the  Presi- 
dent to  a  second  term,  we  are  prepared  to  realize  the  good  -which 
has  flowed  from  a  movement,  the  necessity  for  which  Ave  must 
all  admit,  however  that  necessity  may  be  deplored.  And  while 
we  may  spend  a  sigh  of  regret  over  the  disappointments  of  the 
past,  and  linger  in  memory  around  the  things  that  were,  we  gather 
fresh  hopes  from  the  present,  and  find  in  our  new  Constitution  a 
firmer  foundation  for  that  faith  which  we  have  hitherto  had  in  the 
capacity  of  man  to  work  out  a  high  destiny  under  the  genial  influ- 
ence of  Republican  institutions. 

Prominent  among  the  evils  of  the  old  Government,  felt  and 
acknowledged  by  all,  was  the  mode  of  electing  the  President,  the 
tenure  of  his  office,  and  his  reeligibility.  The  chief  officer  of  the 
nation  had  come  to  be  the  appointee  of  a  mere  self-constituted 
and  irresponsible  Convention,  and  the  measures  of  Government 
had  received  direction  in  advance,  not  so  much  from  the  wisdom 
and  for  the  good  of  the  people  as  for  the  triumph  of  party.  As 
a  consequence,  each  four  years  heralded  the  advent  of  a  politician, 
sometimes  thrown  upon  the  surface  by  accidental  causes  and  re- 
flecting the  latest  heretical  dogma  of  a  section,  rather  than  ad- 
dressing himself  to  the  good  of  the  whole  country.  The  Execu- 
tive of  the  United  States  had  come  to  be  too  dependant  upon  the 
party  that  elected  him,  and  too  independent  of  the  wishes  and 
interests  of  the  country  at  large.  The  framers  of  the  Constitu- 
tion of  the  United  States  did  not  intend  that  the  Executive 
should  be  the  direct  representative  of  the  democratic  principle, 
but  they  interposed  between  the  elector  and  the  elected  a  feeble 
barrier  which  proved  a  mere  form  without  substance.  Each 
election  for  Chief  Magistrate  inaugurated  doctrines  which  were 
the.  mere  watchwords  of  party,  dictated  to  the  people  by  self- 
constituted  power,  and  caught  up  as  the  rallying  cry  of  a  cam- 
paign and  carried  into  elections  for  the  State  and  Federal 
offices,  until  the  different  branches  of  Government  became  more 
or  less  demoralized  ;  until  appointees  to  office  degenerated  into 
mere  partisans,  and  the  halls  of  Congress,  from  being  places 
for  statesmen,  were  fast  becoming  arenas  of  stife.  The  system 
of  platforms  and  caucus  nominations  was  fast  changing  the  Gov- 


14 

ernment  from  its  representative  character  to  one  much  worse  than 
that  of  a  pure  democracy, — to  a  mere  oligarchy,  and  thai  nol  of 
intelligence  and  virtue,  but  of  low  ambition.  All  was  coming  to 
be  done  in  the  name  of  the.  people — nothing  by  them,  save  to  fol- 
low in  the  train  of  self-appointed  dictators. 

I  regret  to  say  that  the  chief  defect  of  the  Constitution  of  the 
Confederate  States  is,  in  my  opinion,  the  retention  of  the  old 
mode  of  electing  the  President,  The  task  of  reformation  would, 
however,  have  been  nice  and  difficult,  and  I  doubt  if  you  can,  by 
interposing  machinery  of  any  kind  between  the  elector  and  the. 
elected,  prevent  the  candidate  from  standing  directly  before  and 
being  in  fact  chosen  immediately  by  the  people,  so  long  as  they 
retain  the  right  to  vote  for  the  office  ;  a  right  which  cannot  in  our 
Government  be  elsewhere  lodged  without  materially  altering  its 
form  and  essence.  While,  then,  the  evil  exists,  I  am  inclined  to 
to  think  it  may  be  one  inherent  in  institutions  whose  corner  stone 
rests  on  the  popular  will ;  and  to  hope  that  the  change  in  the 
tenure  of  office,  the  deprivation  of  its  patronage,  the  ineligi- 
bility of  the  incumbent  and  the  additional  obligations  imposed  on 
the  Executive  in  regard  to  the  public  expenditures  will  greatly 
mitigate,  if  not  remove,  the  ills  with  which  the  United  States  have 
been  and  are  so  sorely  afflicted  from  Presidential  elections.  Should, 
however,  experience  prove  that  the  present  mode  of  election  ought 
to  be  abandoned,  a  greater  facility  is  afforded  for  its  attainment 
by  allowing  three  States  to  call  a  convention  of  all  to  consider 
proposed  amendments  to  the  fundamental  law,  which,  if  assented 
to  by  a  majority  of  this  body,  shall  be  effectual,  on  being  ratified 
by  two-thirds  of  the  States  through  their  several  Legislatures  or 
Conventions,  as  the  one  or  the  other  mode  of  final  action  shall  be 
determined  by  the  general  body. 

The  restrictions  thrown  around  amendments  to  the  organic  law 
by  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  proved  to  be  a  prac- 
tical negation  of  the  power  to  alter  the  instrument.  Discontent, 
however  loud  or  well  founded,  was  sure  to  receive  no  heed  in  ad- 
vance from  two-thirds  of  both  Houses  of  Congress,  or  from  two- 
thirds  of  the  Legislatures  of  the  several  States  ;  and,  without  a 
concurrence  of  such,  no  body  could  be  assembled  even  to  consider 
the  complaints  of  members  of  the  Union.  Hence,  restlessness 
when  once  created,  could  not  be  allayed,  and  a  wound  once  inflict- 
ed on  the  body  of  a  State  never  healed,  but  festered  into  a  chro- 
nic and  incurable  complaint.  The  substituted  provision  imparts 
a  wholesome  flexibility  to  our  Constitution  and,  at  the  same  time, 


15 

assures  us  against  an  assembling  of  the  States  for  light  or  tran- 
sient causes,  or  hopeless  purposes,  and  the  consultative  body, 
when  convened,  will  be  confined  to  action  on  propositions  put 
forth  by  three  States. 

Among  other  felicitous  provisions  of  the  permanent  Constitu- 
tion may  be  mentioned  that  requiring  the  electors  in  each  State 
to  be  citizens  of  the  Confederate  States  and  prohibiting  any  per- 
son of  foreign  birth,  not  a  citizen  of  the  Confederate  States,  from 
voting  for  any  office,  civil  or  political,  State  or  Federal.  As  the 
right  of  voting  was  not  correlative  to  or  dependent  upon  that  of 
citizenship,  under  the  government  of  the  United  States,  and  as 
the  institutions  we  were  about  to  establish  were  for  our  own  citi- 
zens, it  was  wisely  determined  that  none  but  such  should  exercise 
the  highest  political  right  ever  given  to  a  people.  Nor  is  there  in 
the  provision  any  of  the  spirit  of  hostility  to  or  proscription  of 
foreigners ;  for  Congress  is  empowered  to  pass  uniform  laws  of 
naturalization,  and  the  simple  rule,  above  indicated,  is,  that  what- 
ever probation  is  necessary  to  fit  a  man  for  the  rank  of  citizen  is 
essential  to  his  wisely  exercising  the  high  privilege  of  a  voter. 
Wishing  to  see  no  proscription  of  any,  but  desiring  that  our  land 
may  remain  the  asylum  of  all  freemen,  yet  I  hope  and  believe 
that  Congress  while  giving  facility  to  naturalization,  will  place 
such  safeguards  around  its  attainment,  that  it  will  be  felt  to  be  a 
high  boon  to  be  admitted  to  participation  in  the  control  of  this 
Republic.  It  may  be  worthy  of  remark  in  this  connection  that 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  State  confers  on  Congress  the  pow- 
er "  to  establish  an  uniform  rule  of  naturalization"  and  "  uniform 
laics  on  the  subject  of  bankruptcies"  and,  it  has  been  insisted, 
with  much  plausibility,  derived  from  history  and  from  the  lan- 
guage used,  that  the  naturalization  clause  was  designed  only  to 
give  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  power  to  prescribe  an 
uniform  rule,  to  be  observed  by  each  State  in  making  citizens,  and 
not  power  to  make  citizens  of  the  Federal  Government.  From 
this  proposition  has  been  drawn  the  deduction  that  there  are  no 
citizens  of  the  United  States,  but  that  the  people  are  citizens  of 
the  several  States  owing  allegiance  to  the  United  States  only 
through  the  several  States.  The  convention  of  the  Confederate 
States,  after  mature  deliberation,  adopted  the  judicial  decisions 
and  the  practice  of  Congress  on  the  question,  and  hence  chang- 
ed the  expression — "rule"  to  "latcsof  naturalization."  It  will 
also  be  observed  that  the  power  to  pass  laws  on  the  subject  of 
bankruptcies  finds  the  important  qualification  that  "  no  law  of 


16 

Congress  shall  discharge  any  debt  contracted  before  the  passage 
of  t lie  sami 

A  new  policy  is  to  be  inaugurated  in  regard  to  postal  affairs; 

for  the  permanent  Constitution  dec-lares  that  the  expenses  of  the, 

■'.rtment,  shall  after  the  1st  day  of  March,  1861 
paid  out  of  its  own  revenues.     Without  entering-  upon  the  mooted 

tion  whether  the  correspondent  should  pay  for  the  trans 
Bion  of  his  own  letters  or  whether  cheap   postage  should  be  pur- 
chased at  the  expense  of  the  whole  people,  the  clause  in  question 
□amends  itself  to  me  for  the  secondary   benelits  it  wilt  bring; 
for  it  st  that  the  much  abused  franking  privilege  is  thus 

cut  up  and  that  our  mails  will  not  be  loaded  with  the  carriage, 
nor  our  treasury  burdened  with  the.  printing  of  political  trash, 
tending  more  to  mislead  than  to  enlighten  the  public  mind.  I 
am  pleased  to  say  that  our  postal  act  is  in  conformity  with  these 
views. 

The  question  of  negro  slavery  has  been  the  apple  of  discord  in 
the  government  of  the  United  States  since  its  foundation.  The 
strife  has  now  and  then  lulled,  but  has  not  ceased,  All  observing 
m<  n  must  have  felt,  for  at  least  ten  years,  that  this  fanatical  agi- 
tation was  the  death  knell  of  the  Union.  A  triumphant  party, 
that  repudiated  the  constitution  and  set  up  a  law  higher  even 
than  that  of  the  Bible,  came  into  power  on  a  single  idea — hostility 
to  our  people  and  our  rights.  We  have  long  borne  with  the  evil 
and  endured  reproach,  until  our  national  character  has  been  great- 
ly injured,  and  our  enemies  have  read,  in  our  forbearance,  a  want 
of  courage  to  defend  our  rights.  The  scales  have  at  last  fallen 
from  their  eyes,  and  they  begin  to  survey  with  surprise  and  regret 
the  deed  they  have  done.  But  the  die  is  irrevocably  cast. 
Henceforth  and  forever  we  are  separate  nations.  The  Confede- 
rate States  are  a  nation;  to  be  maintained  in  peace  if  it  may  be, 
but  to  be  maintained. 

The  institution  of  slavery  is  as  old  as  the  records  of  man.  It 
has  found  its  existence  in  the  polity  of  every  nation,  civil  or  ec- 
clesiastical, ancient  or  modern.  It  was  firmly  established  in  the 
laws  of  the  Jews,  and  is  recognized  in  the  Revelations  of  Christi- 
anity. The  pages  of  earliest  profane  history  are  full  of  its  ex- 
istence, "  It  spread  from  Chaldeainto  Egypt,  Arabia  and  all  the 
East,  and  found  its  way  into  every  known  region  under  the  hea- 
ven." 'Tis  part  of  the  song  of  the  seige  of  Troy.  Hector  in 
taking  a  tender,  and  perhaps  last  farewell  of  his  wife,  tells  her 
that,  on  the  conquest  of  Troy,  she  would  be  compelled 


17 

"  To  bear  the  victor's  hard  commands,  or  bring 
The  weight  of  water  from  Hyperia's  spring." 

Home,  in  all  the  pride  of  her  power  and  the  progress  of  her 
knowledge  and  her  arts,  and  long  after  the  conversion  of  Con- 
stautine  to  Christianity,  bound  hard  upon  her  captives  the  fetters 
of  a  galling  slavery.  The  ancient  German,  it  is  said,  in  his 
thirst  for  gaming  sold  himself  to  slavery  upon  the  throw  of  the 
dice  ;  and  Great  Britain,  who  boasts  that  "  slaves  cannot  breathe 
in  England,"  but  who,  in  her  apprentice  system,  is  now  forging 
for  freemen  fetters  at  which  humanity  revolts,  abolished  the  in- 
stitution of  slavery  within  her  own  island  home  and  from  her 
own  immediate  subjects  only  in  the  reign  of  Queen  Elizabeth.* 

But  let  the  subject  pass.  Its  discussion  is  not  our  theme  to- 
night, and  were  it,  we  might  end  it  by  saying,  our  rights,  as  writ- 
ten in  the  contract,  have  been  persistently  refused  and  violated 
and  the  war  of  "  irrepressible  conflict"  waged  upon  the  guarantees 
of  the  Constitution.  I  repeat  it,  the  deed  is  done,  and  is  final ; 
and,  taking  this  as  our  stand  point,  we  turn  to  the  rising  sun 
and  see  where  we  now  are  in  respect  to  this  institution. 

The  right  of  transit  and  sojourn  with  our  slaves  in  any  State 
of  the  Confederacy  is  secured,  and  slaves  escaping  or  lawfully 
carried  from  one  State  or  Territory  to  another,  shall  not  be  dis- 
charged from  service  or  labor  by  any  law  or  regulation  therein. 
but  shall  be  delivered  up  on  claim  of  the  party  to  whom  they  be- 
long ;  and  the  power  to  acquire  new  territory  and  legislate  for 
the  inhabitants  thereof,  is  subject  to  the  qualification  that,  "  the 
institution  of  negro  slavery,  as  it  now  exists  in  the  Confederate 
States,  shall  be  recognized  and  protected  by  Congress  and  by 
the  territorial  government ;  and  the  inhabitants  of  the  several  Con- 
federate States  and  Territories  shall  have  the  right  to  take  to 
such  Territory  any  slave  lawfully  held  by  them  in  any  of  the 
States  or  Territories  of  the  Confederate  States."  Thus,  by  lan- 
guage too  plain  to  be  misunderstood,  is  the  question  of  our  rights 
in  the  Territories  settled — and  upon  the  principle  that  what  is 
acquired  from  the  common  means  of  the  whole  is  held  in  trust 
equally  for  each  and  every  part,  and  that  property  under  the 
Constitution  must  remain  such  under  the  Acts  of  Congress. 

So  much  for  this  question  of  strife ;  but  there  was  another 
point  of  view  from  which  our  institution  was  to  be  regarded  and 
treated  :  one  solely  concerning  ourselves.  I  mean,  of  course, 
the  African  slave  trade. 

Had  we  been  sitting  as  Legislators  for  Dahomey,  the  richest 

*  £ee  Encyclopedia  Brittanica,  Title  Slavery. 


Lf 

boon  we  could  have  conferred  upon  its  lavage  people  would  have 

been  to  send  them  into  Americas  bondage  ;  but  called  on  to  act 
as  Legislators  of  the  Confederate  States,  the  question, required,  in 
my  opinion,  a  different  solution.  I  eonnot  now  pursue  the  argu- 
ment at  any  length;  but   whether  regarded  as  an  economical 

question,  or  one  of  mere  political  or  looked  at  in  the  light 

of  duty  to  our  own  civilized  negroes,  the  propriety  of  writing  in 
the  Constitution  ■  prohibition  against  the  trade,  is  to  my  mind 
(dear.  That  it  was  demanded  by  the  instructions  of  the  Conven- 
tion of  Alabama  we  know  from  its  ordinances,  and  that  it  was  re- 
quired by  public  opinion  I  am  fully  satisfied.  It  ia  not  strange 
that  ardent  minds,  aroused  by  libellous  assaults  upon  our  institu- 
tion, should,  now  and  tben,  be  driven  so  farinto  the  extren 
opposition  as  to  desire  the  re-opening  of  the  trade;  but  the  charge 
that  any  considerable  portion  of  our  people  entertained  such 
views  is  but  one  of  the  many  unfounded  imputations  of  our  ene- 
mies; and  now  that  the  public  mind  is  left  to  think  of  the  subject, 
free  from  irritation,  I  believe  there  will  shortly  be  entire  unan- 
imity upon  it. 

Slavery  as  it  now  exists  in  North  America,  is  not  that  ot 
seventy  years  ago.  The  latter  was  the  slavery  of  the  African 
trade,  throwing  among  us  the  most  bestial  and  untutored  sava- 
ges. At  this  our  fathers  revolted,  and  hence,  admitted  the  evil 
of  slavery  itself;  while  we  rightly  justify  and  defend  it,  because 
that  of  to-day  is  a  civilized  and  christianized  domestic  institution. 
The  wild  savage  from  Africa  was  almost  a  mere  beast ;  his 
American  descendant  is  a  civilized  appendage  to  the  family  rela- 
tion. Therefore  it  is,  that  we  have  rightly  come  to  defend 
slavery,  and  to  contrast  the  condition  of  our  laborers  favorably 
with  that  of  the  operative  classes  in  other  parts  of  the  world.  If 
it  be  said  that  it  was  founded  in  wrong,  and  therefore  cannot  be 
right,  the  ready  answer  to  England  and  to  New  England  is,  (the 
argument  being  admitted  for  convenience,)  that  the  money  their 
people  obtained  from  the  sale  of  African  negroes  to  our  forefathers 
was  obtained  by  wrong,  and  it  and  its  proceeds  should  he  given 
up ;  that  the  tenures  to  estates  in  England  are  held  under  the  title 
of  plunder  from  an  invaded  and  overrun  people,  and  that  New 
England  holds  its  lands  by  but  a  little  better  origin;  that  most,  if 
not  all  of  the  rights  of  modern  civilization  have  sprung  from 
wrongs  protected  by  a  far  shorter  statute  of  limitation  than  the 
slave  trade,  which  is  coeval  with  history. 


19 

Let  the  negro  philanthrophist  eome  to  the  confessional  and 
make  restoration  for  all  the  rights  which  he  holds  from  a  wrong, 
and  we  will  then  listen  to  him  ;  hut  till  then  let  him  be  silent 
and  abashed. 

As  an  economical  questiou  the  fact  is  before  us  that  about  four 
hundred  thousand  Africans  have  been  imported  into  the  United 
States.  From  these  have  sprung  about  four  millions  of  improved, 
civilized,  hardy  and  happy  laborers. 

Cuba,  on  the  other  hand,  has  relied  upon  Africa  for  recruits, 
and  a  fresh  supply  is  constantly  necessary  to  keep  up  the  popu- 
lation of  her  slaves. 

We  have  dissolved  the  late  Union  chiefly  because  of  the  negro 
quarrel.  Now,  is  there  any  man  who  wishes  to  reproduce  that 
strife  among  ourselves  1  and  yet  does  not  he,  who  wished  the 
slave  trade  left  for  the  action  of  Congress,  see  that  he  proposed 
to  open  a  Pandora's  box  among  us  and  to  cause  our  political 
arena  again  to  resound  with  this  discussion.  Hud  we  left  the 
question  unsettled,  we  should,  in  my  opinion,  have  sown  broad- 
cast the  seeds  of  discord  and  death  in  our  Constitution.  I  con- 
gratulate the  country  that  the  strife  has  been  put  to  rest  forever, 
and  that  American  slavery  is  to  stand  before  the  world  as  it  is, 
and  on  its  own  merits. 

We  have  now  placed  our  domestic  institution,  and  secured  its 
rights  unmistakably,  in  the  Constitution ;  we  have  sought  by  no 
euphony  to  hide  its  name — we  have  called  our  negroes  "slaves," 
and  we  have  recognized  and  protected  them  as  persons  and  our 
rights  to  them  as  property.     We  have  further  declared  that 

"  Congress  shall  also  have  power  to  prohibit  the  introduction 
of  slaves  from  any  State  not  a  member  of,  or  Territory  not  be- 
longing to,  this  Confederacy." 

I  trust  it  may  not  be  necessary  to  exercise  this  power,  because 
I  hope  to  see  the  Southern  States  of  the  United  States  joined  in 
Government  with  us ;  but  the  power  was  essential,  and,  as  a 
legislator,  I  shall  be  ready  to  exercise  it  to  absolute  prohibition 
whenever  I  shall  be  driven  to  adopt  the  conclusion  that  these 
States  have  chosen  to  remain  a  fringe  upon  the  skirts  of  New 
England  abolition.  I  shall  then  think  the  day  has  come  to  force 
them  to  keep  their  blacks  or  to  seek  other  outlets  for  them  than 
this  Confederacy. 

"  Other  States  may  be  admitted  into  this  Confederacy  by  a 
vote  of  two-thirds  of  the  whole  House  of  Representatives,  and 
two-thirds  of  the  Senate,  the  Senate  voting  by  States." 


20 

This  provision  secures  us  as  amply  against  the  admission  of 
undesirable  associates  as  language  can  ;  for  the  Constitution  itself 
may  be  amended  by  two-thirds  of  the  States,  and  three  States 
can  call  a  Convention  to  consider  proposed  alterations.  It  is 
therefore  morally  certain  that  whenever  any  feature  of  it  becomes 
obnoxious  to  two-thirds  of  the  States,  it  will  and  ought  to  be 
altered  or  abolished. 

But  I  justify  the  Catholicism  of  the  above  provision  on  higher 
ground,  and  throwing  aside  the  feelings  which  the  irritation  of  the 
moment  create,  and  looking  to  the  future  with  full  confidence 
that  our  domestic  policy  will  justify  itself  and  long  outlive  the 
puny  assaults  of  maddened  fanaticism,  led  on  by  ambitious  politi- 
cians, I  earnestly  hope  that  not  only  will  the  kindred  States  join 
us,  but  abide  in  confidence  that  some  of  the  great  Northwestern 
States,  watered  by  the  Mississippi,  will  be  drawn  by  the  strong 
current  of  that  mighty  river  and  by  the  laws  of  trade,  to  swell 
the  number  and  power  of  this  Confederation  ;  and  that  we  shall 
receive  them  on  such  terms  of  their  organic  law  as  we  ourselves 
may  prescribe ;  and  in  doing  so,  grasp  the  power  of  empire  on 
this  continent  and  announce  to  the  startled  North  that  it  has 
reached  its  western  limit,  and  must  spread,  if  spread  it  can,  to- 
wards the  frozen  sea.  If  in  adopting  these  views  I  may  seem 
to  have  listened  to  the  whispers  of  fancy,  I  beg  to  call  your  at- 
tention to  the  prosaic  fact  that  sentiment  in  nations  never  long 
rules  master  of  interest.  Who  thinks  that  our  late  sister  Southern 
States,  or  even  Indiana  and  Illinois,  will  pay  millions  per  year 
as  a  tribute  for  joining  in  hozannas  to  the  Union.  As  sure  as 
"  blood  is  thicker  than  water" — as  sure  as  Virginia  is  the  mother 
of  States — as  sure  as  she  is  the  parent  of  the  doctrines  of  1798 
and  1799;  and  as  sure  as  North  Carolina's  young  men  have 
become  Alabama's  sons,  so  sure  will  the  Southern  States  of  the 
United  States  blend  their  destiny  with  ours.  And  as  sure  as 
the  Mississippi  flows  towards  the  Gulf,  and  bears  on  its  bosom 
the  great  commerce  of  the  West — and  as  sure  as  we  ai*e  con- 
sumers of  Western  products  and  our  tariff  will  be  lower  than 
that  of  the  United  States,  so  sure  will  the  trouble  be,  not  to  have 
the  West  with  us,  but  to  keep  it  from  us.  The  only  escape  from 
this  is  by  their  Government's  adopting  our  system  of  low  duties, 
or  by  New  York's  cutting  loose  from  New  England  and  spreading 
its  gates  of  commerce  wide  to  free  trade. 

The  political  economist  knows  it,  the  merchant  knows  it,  and 


21 

the  Black  Republican  statesman  now  feels  it  and  stands  appalled 
at  the  ruin  he  has  done. 

Fellow-citizens,  I  have  thus  gone  briefly  through  the  material 
amendments  we  have  made  upon  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States,  except  that  I  have  not  noticed  the  few,  and  not  vital 
changes  in  the  judiciary  system.  Sufhce  it  to  say,  to  an  unpro- 
fessional audience,  that,  save  the  withholding  from  the  Federal 
Courts  jurisdiction  of  suits  between  citizens  of  different  States  of 
the  Confederacy,  the  judicial  power  of  this  Government  is  the 
same  as  that  of  the  United  States,  and  that  the  Congress  have 
enacted  a  judiciary  act  chiefly  modelled  on  that  of  the  old  Gov- 
ernment. One  important  and  wholesome  provision  in  regard  to 
the  judiciary  I  ought  to  mention.  It  is  "  that  any  judicial  or 
other  federal  officer,  resident  and  acting  solely  within  the  limits 
of  any  State,  may  be  impeached  by  a  vote  of  two-thirds  of  both 
branches  of  the  Legislature  thereof." 

The  Senate  of  the  Confederate  States  have  the  sole  power  to 
try  such  and  all  other  impeachments.  The  provision  noticed 
applies  only  to  the  Federal  officer,  acting  solely  within  the  limits 
of  a  State,  whose  conduct  could  not,  therefore,  be  expected 
to  fall  under  the  observation  of  the  nation  at  large.  The  entire 
freedom  of  the  inferior  judiciary  of  the  United  States  from  State 
influence,  and  virtually  from  that  of  the  general  government, 
served  to  render  the  provision  necessary.  It  is  hardly  possible 
that  it  will  be  perverted  to  injustice,  or  can  be  abused  to  the  se- 
rious detriment  of  the  officer,  for  the  State  authority  goes  no  far- 
ther than  impeaching.  It  does  not  extend  to  trying  the  officer. 
It  is  but  the  inquest  of  the  grand  jury  which  is  given  to  the  State. 

Georgia  and  Louisiana  have  responded  to  Alabama  in  adopting 
the  Constitution  of  the  Confederate  States,  and,  while  we  write, 
the  joyful  news  comes  dancing  over  the  wires  that  Texas  and 
Mississippi  have  accepted  ;  and  thus,  by  the  assent  of  the  requi- 
red number,  formed  a  permanent  federal  body.  Soon  will  South 
Carolina  complete  the  circle  of  the  stars,  and  then  the  seceded 
States  will  form  one  united  sisterhood. 

The  new  charter  of  our  rights  has  been  spread  before  the 
world,  and  not  only  has  censure  been  struck  dumb,  but  the  con- 
servative press  of  the  North  is  swelling  a  chorus  to  the  loud 
anthems  of  our  people. 

We  have  organized  the  departments  of  Government,  and,  with 
one  voice,  have  called  to  the  head  of  it  a  statesman  and  soldier 
renowned  alike  in  peace  and  war — in  the  councils  of  the  nation  and 


•).-) 


on  the  field  of  battle  ;  ami  he  has  summoned  into  his  cabinet 
men  of  national  renown  and  established  capacity  and  honor. 
We  have  placed,   in  the   next  highest  office,  him  who  stood 
:  1  to  none  among  his   Peers  in  the  Congress  of  the  United 
We  have  raised  and    put    into  the  field  a  national  army 
of  ten  thousand  men,  officered  by  the  flower  of  the  soldiery  of  the 
old  Government,    and    OUT    Several    Stales   have   raised    the    best 
spirits  of  the  land,  who  >tand  ready  to  throw   themselves  into  the 
front  of  the  battle.     So  rapidly  and  effectively  have  our  military 
operations  gone  forward  that  Fort  Sumter  is  about  to  he  surren- 
dered, and  already  are    we   told  that,  on  soher  second  thought  of 

the  authorities  at  "Washington, 

■•  <;  ith'd  h  a  wrinkled  front  " 

Tn  my  opinion,  we  shall  have  no  war.  We  shall  have  none 
because  we  are  ready  to  meet  and  maintain  the  stand  we  have 
taken,  and  because  we  are  right,  and  the  soldiery  of  the  United 
Stales  know  we  are,  and  will  not  fight  against  us. 

We  are  organizing  a  navy  sufficient  for  coast  defences,  and 
shall  be  ready  to  keep  our  ports  open;  and  should  a  blockade 
he  attempted,  Europe  will  see  that  it  must  he  close  and  effectual 
to  be  regarded  ;  and  when  the  little  navy  of  the  United  States 
shall  he  persuaded  to  fight  our  people,  or  to  attempt  to  blockade 
our  ports,  we  will  license  the  privateer  to  prey  upon  the  unpro- 
tected commerce  of  the  North.  But  Mr.  Lincoln,  Ave  are  told, 
has  at  last  ascertained  that  he  has  no  power  to  collect  revenues, 
otherwise  than  at  the  custom-houses  and  through  the  officers  of 
custom  and  the  courts  of  the  country  ;  nor  power  to  blockade  the 
ports,  or  to  attempt  it  ;  and  descending  from  his  big  words  he 
has  drivelled  down  to  the  puling  and  imbecile  head  of  a  fanatical 
party,  and  is  reaping  a  rich  harvest  of  abuse  from  his  radical  Re- 
publican journals  ;  while  Mr.  Seward  is  no  doubt  enjoying  over 
again  his  day  dream,  by  standing  in  imagination  on  the  shores  of 
the  Northern  Lakes  and  contemplating  the  spread  of  Northmen 
over  frozen  lands. 

We  have  originated  and  will  soon  put  in  motion  an  effective 
postal  service  ;  have  established  courts  of  justice,  and  learned  and 
honest  judges  have  been  appointed  to  administer  the  law  ;  we 
have  sent  our  diplomats  to  Europe  with  the  Constitution  in  one 
hand  and  a  low  tariff  in  the  other;  carrying  the  news  that  the 
surrender  of  Fort  Sumter  is  a  "military  necessity";  and  the  in- 
telligence of  these  materia]  facts  will  follow  fast  upon  the  tidings 
that  the  Morrill  tariff  has  become  the  law  of  the  United  States. 


Who  thinks  that  Europe  trill  not  gladly  acknowledge  ouf 
advent  into  the  family  of  nations  ?  Surely  none  who  know  the 
charm  of  trade  or  the  influence  of  interest. 

We  have  made  the  Mississippi  a  free  highway  of  commerce  and 
have  offered,  and  are  ready  to  adjust  and  settle  "  between  the 
States  forming  this  Confederacy  and  their  late  confederates  of  the 
United  States,  everything  pertaining  to  the  common  property, 
common  liability  and  common  obligations  of  that  Union,  upon  the 
principles  of  right,  justice,  equity  and  good  faith." 

Our  revolution  has  hardly  made  so  great  a  pressure  on  the 
pursuits  of  our  people  as  is  often  experienced  from  derangements 
resulting  from  ordinary  causes  ;  and  already  has  trade,  ever  sen- 
sitive to  danger,  resumed  its  wonted  confidence  and  thrift.  Ouf 
fields  have  not  had  a  furrow  less  plowed  and  our  women  and 
children  have  not  lost  the  sleep  of  a  single  night  from  the  reali- 
zation of  Northern  predictions  of  troubles  among  our  slaves. 
Fed,  clothed,  worked  and  treated  as  usual,  this  happy  and  care- 
less people  have  gone  to  their  daily  labors,  as  willingly  and  con- 
tentedly as  before. 

With  exports  of  about  two  hundred  and  sixty  millions  per 
annum,  of  that  staple  upon  which  five  millions  of  England's 
people  subsist,  and  without  which  the  New  England  dweller  in 
palaces  would  descend  to  the  hut  of  his  pilgrim  fathers,  who 
dreams  that  this  people  have  not  the  means  to  uphold  their  Gov- 
ernment or  that  it  cannot  raise  money  to  meet  its  frugal 
expenses  1 

Our  custom  houses  are  not  only  springing  into  renewed  activity, 
but,  unless  the  North  soon  changes  its  policy,  its  own  imports 
will  flow  into  our  cities  and  pay  their  duties  into  the  coffers  of 
these  Confederate  States.  The  loan  now  sought  by  our  Trea- 
sury will  be  taken,  and  I  trust  only  by  our  own  people  ;  taken 
because  it  is  a  good  and  safe  investment,  and  because  it  is  meet 
that  we  should  come  forward  with  the  alacrity  of  the  French  to 
the  support  of  the  Government,  and  because  in  upholding  it  we 
uphold  not  only  our  political  rights  but  our  direct  material  in- 
terests. 

We  are  now  a  nation,  and  with  nationality  will  come  develop- 
ment of  commerce,  of  manufactures,  of  arts.  The  public  mind  will 
receive  a  new  impetus.  We  shall  learn  to  make  much  of  what  we 
use,  and  to  spend  our  money  among  our  own  people.  Before,  we 
bought  and  we  sold,  but  we  went  from  home  to  sell  and  to  buy. 
Our  simplest  importations  and  much  of  our  exportations  were 


24 

led  on  by  New  York  ;  our  exchange  went  there.  In  short, 
the  North  reaped  the  profits  of  our  labor  and  upon  it  grew  rich 
and   defiant.     But    the   picture  is  reversed  and   henceforth   the 

th  rill  stand  out  in  the  full  proportions  of  her  nationality 
and  her  power. 

wovi\  1  be  a  pleasing  and  useful  task  to  examine  and  contrast 

the  different  bases  on  which  free  institutions  rest  at  the  North  and 

ath,  and  an   easy   one   to  prove,  that,  while  our  svstom 

admit  equal  political  rights  for  all  freemen,  society 

irth  rests  on  a  foundation,  which  produces  that  conflict 

amoi  _  rily  arising  between  capital  and  the  labor 

which   furnishes  only  subsistence,  as  the  life  long  reward  of  toil. 

But  this  is  a  fruitful  theme  and  cannot  be  here  discussed.     Let 

the  North  ponder  over  and  consider  the  question,  for  her  social 

fabric  rests  on  a  volcano. 

Having  taken  our  political  destinies  into  our  own  hands,  let  us 

in  the  moment  of  exultation,  forget  the  duties  that,  devolve 
upon  us,  and  let  us  remember  that,  however  wise  and  beneficent 
may  be  the  working  of  the  General  Government,  it  is  to  State 
action  we  must  mainly  look  for  that  advancement  which  shall 
secure  high  civilization  ;  for  the  enactment  and  enforcement  of 
laws,  which  shall  give  security  to  life,  liberty  and  property; 
for  that  intellectual  and  moral  culture  which  shall  enable  us  wise- 
ly to  govern  men  and  guide  the  State.  Let  us  prize,  as  we  ought, 
the  broad  freedom  we  enjoy,  and  to  obtain  which  Europe  has  in 
vain  been  convulsed  again  and  again  with  bloody  revolution,  and 
let  us,  in  the  elevation  of  our  legislative  bodies,  prove  to  the 
world  that  Wisdom  is  the  Goddess  of  Liberty. 


pettiruklifei 

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